More physician cuts from Medicare

The CMS released information on August 8, 2006 and said physicians are scheduled to receive a 5.1% Medicare rate cut in 2007 under current law. This would mean that most 3rd party payors also would follow with similar cuts.

CMS anticipates that spending through Medicare will be approx. $61.5 billion on physician services in 2007 under the proposed physician fee schedule. The proposed regulation also stated that it will expand coverage of preventive services and add 14 Medicare-approved procedures for ambulatory surgical centers in 2007 and expand the list further in 2008.

When you look at this proposal, what is going to happen is that the overall Medicare payments in 2007 will be less than 2006. If they truly expand preventative services and add 14 additional procedures, the cuts will have to occur in other areas currently being offered. This will be extremely bad news for some physicians.

Many more physicians will have to limit or stop seeing new Medicare patients if they are to survive. We cannot continue to run a medical practice with ever-increasing costs and continual decrease in revenue. It is economically impossible.

Access to healthcare will be further limited and patients who cannot find primary care physicians will obtain their needed care through emergency rooms and Urgent Care Centers which will then cost the taxpayers even more money.

Legislators need to grasp the bigger picture and better understand that these are very poor and short-sighted solutions to the much larger problem. At least one republican congressman understands and has introduced a new bill to eliminate this cut and actually fix the Medicare payment system to keep up with real costs of providing care.